Snowless sled: Summer downhilling for brave souls

It's a reality that we come to realize as small children: certain wonderful indulgences of childhood like snow days, mud fights and sled jumps are entirely at the mercy of Mother Nature. You only get to enjoy them for a few months out of the year, and if the weather doesn't cooperate, you may miss a whole year or two. If only we'd had the Hanczar snowless sled when we were kids.

Now that we think about it, we probably can't really recommend anything even resembling this sled for children. It looks fast and terrifying, we don't really see any brakes or steering apparatus and only the low-profile seems to make it appear safer than downhilling in a grocery cart (but don't do that either).

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Glaring safety issues aside, Polish designer Szymon Hanczar envisions the We Never Give Up! sled as the ultimate solution to sledding's greatest weakness. With its wheeled design, Hanczar's sled can tackle all kinds of terrain (mostly paved terrain, we'd guess) any time of year.

Hanczar was inspired not only by reminiscent memories of childhood snow days, but by the threat of global warming. The We Never Give Up! name is like a rally cry for battling against the circumstances of warming temperatures and retracting snow totals.

We love the idea of an all-season sled - especially in a winter that's been unseasonably dry and warm in many of the United States' snowiest areas - but this iteration looks a little scary. We'd like to see some large wheels, brakes and a steering wheel before getting aboard such an open, metal-and-wood vehicle.

It looks like the snowless sled is just a concept at present, but if you just can't let go of the idea of sledding in winter, products like the Icemeister Slicer should satisfy the urge (on grass at least).